


The Dark Horse of the Trojan War

by kingachilles



Category: Troy (2004)
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-19
Updated: 2018-06-19
Packaged: 2019-05-21 03:17:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14907296
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kingachilles/pseuds/kingachilles
Summary: The fate of Troy is sealed...its doom inevitable.  Or is it?  There is one chance left for this great city, one man who has more potential as a warrior than glorious Hector or even Achilles himself.  The question is, will this unknown Trojan soldier fulfill his destiny and become the savior of Troy and its allies?  Or will he die with the rest of his beloved city, unable to change the fates that the Gods of Olympus have decided upon in all of their cruel and reckless power?





	1. Chapter 1

The Gods are a fickle and fiery bunch. They have allowed you to live the first eighteen years of your life inside the safe and protective walls of Troy. But the Gods in all of their wisdom and overweening power have decided to put an end to that peace. War has come, and there is nothing that can stop that now.

The Gods have driven Paris, in all of his scandalous ways, to steal the prize of great Menelaus, mighty Agamemnon's brother, sealing the fate of the Trojans and the Achaeans. Helen, the most beautiful woman in the world, has been stolen from her beloved husband after falling under the lustful spell of Paris and is now languishing in Troy to suffer as his prize.

And so in brotherly revenge Agamemnon leads a thousand fast ships carrying the greatest warriors in all the land headed for your shores. The battle between your Trojans and the long-haired Achaeans will be EPIC! It will be glorious and horrible, inspirational and heartbreaking. But who will win?

The Fates have decreed that, despite the best efforts of powerful and righteous Hector, your city shall be destroyed, ravaged and raped by Achilles and the bloodthirsty Achaeans.

So it has been written, but destiny does not always follow the written path. There is a chance for this great city, there is a chance for Troy and its gallant protector Hector. YOU! You are the dark horse, the unknown factor that can change everything. If only you knew what your destiny holds. If only you knew what you were capable of.

But you do not know.  You sit there on your porch swing, surrounded by lilacs and glittering gold, lounging in ignorant bliss.  Until this day you have been living a lie.  You have been living the life of a simple peasant.  A nobody, with no responsibilities and no weight to bear down your happy shoulders.  But now you must face your birthright, you must face your responsibility and your destiny.

As you sit there breathing in the sweet smelling breeze from the sea you are awoken from your pointless bliss by something you have never seen before.  Something frightening and hypnotic, something that is above you and everything you have ever known on this earth. 

It is Ares, God of war.  Bright red and surrounded by an unearthly glow he stands there in front of you, looking down as if he were staring at an ant.  In the loud and booming voice of a God he greets you in a friendly way, for he loves the Trojans and he wants to see you win.  

"Greetings mortal, the Golden Child, future of Troy and its allies!"

You look up at the God dumbstruck.  As soon as you catch your insignificant breath you speak up, so as not to offend him.  "Glorious Ares, God of war, why do you speak to ME, a mere peasant who is far beneath the likes of you?"

Ares laughs at you, at your fear and bashful naivete.  "Congratulations Golden One, you have been chosen above all the rest to achieve greatness and glory beyond what mortal man deserves."

You cannot believe your ears.  How can it be that such a puny and insignificant worm such as yourself should be congratulated by a God?  "Why me?  Why have I been chosen?  I'm no warrior, I'm just a simple peasant."

Ares leans in to talk to you face to face, man to man.  "That is what YOU think, but you are wrong.  One night long ago while your mother was wandering along the shores, far past the beautiful golden walls of Troy, she grew tired and decided to take a nap on the sand dunes sprinkled with willows.  The mighty Father Zeus happened by and saw your mother in all of her seductive beauty.  Longing overtook him and he coupled with her right then and there.  But he felt guilty about waking her from her lovely sleep so he put a spell on her so that she would not wake up.  Nine months later YOU were born and neither she nor your father had any idea of what a truly noble birth yours was.

"But all of the Gods knew and now Zeus has chosen YOU to be his greatest son of all, even greater than powerful Hercules!  Should you fulfill your destiny then you will someday live with the Gods as an equal, standing eye to eye even with mighty Zeus himself.  The path of your destiny will not be an easy one but, should you follow it to the end, you will achieve greatness that will last forever...until the last God on Olympus is no more.

"We will guide you along the way but the work is up to you.  Now, off with you!  Take the first step of your destiny and join the army that, without you, will surely face its doom."

With that Ares flies off leaving you dumbstruck on your comfortable swing.  You walk away in a haze, wondering if what happened was real or some sort of daydream or hallucination.  

                                                           ---------------------------------------------------------------------

As you walk through Troy's golden streets you are on the verge of dismissing the whole incident as a dream until Ares drives a nearby army recruiter to approach you.  He is a short, enigmatic man who is full of energy.  He comes up to you waving a pamphlet in your face.

"Surely a strong young strapping man such as yourself has entered our glorious army already" the man says to you.  "But some force unknown to me tells me that you haven't yet joined and that I should approach you.  Tell me young man, are you a soldier yet?"

Suddenly you realize that it was no dream or strange hallucination that just happened to you.  You realize that YOU are loved by the Gods and that your destiny is to become the greatest warrior on earth!  You reach for the pamphlet in the mans hand and try to tell him your intentions.  "I am not a soldier yet but I..."

The overzealous recruiter cuts you off and proceeds to preach to the converted, "Well what are you waiting for?!!!  Achaean armies sail ever closer and it is up to us to fight them.  We can't just let Hector and our allies do all of the fighting.  It is the responsibility of every able bodied man in Troy to take up arms and push those barbarians off of our shores!  Here, take this and go to the training offices."

The well intentioned recruiter shoves the pamphlet in your face and then hurries off to his next sale.  He shouts some last minute advice over his shoulder as he shuffles down the street.  "And hurry up!  There's no time to waste!"

With that, you head towards the training office to start your career in the Trojan army.

 


	2. Chapter 2

Sing O Muse of the countless struggles and hardships that a champion must face in order to fulfill their destiny. Few know of the exhaustive work that it takes to achieve greatness. Of the pain, practice, and the monotonous repetition that a man or woman must endure.

So far you have only scraped the surface of what it will take to grow into the mortal God that you are to become. You have been training for less than a week with your fellow green recruits. The great commander Polydamas has blessed you all with his example and his valuable experience in war. But soon he will have to leave, have to take his place in history next to Hector, and you will be on your own.

"You boys have learned much in the past week" Polydamas tells you.  "You have learned the art of bow fighting, with its many intricacies and tragic usefulness in war.  You have learned the art of throwing the spear, a gruesome way to kill someone.  You have learned how to stab a man with your spear and leave him skewered like a pig!  And you have learned the glorious art of the sword, the last step in killing your enemy in battle.

"But what you have learned is just the beginning.  What you think you know about these arts is just a child's knowledge.  As when a freshly born child just begins to walk, he thinks he has mastered all he will ever need to know, that he rules the world because of this simple accomplishment.  So you boys stand in front of me today, thinking you are warriors, thinking you can rule the world, but in reality you are just learning how to walk."

As Polydamas finishes his speech you get an unexpected visitor, a powerful and glorious visitor second only to the Gods in his regal splendor.  It is Hector, with his fine bronze gear, his sturdy spears, and his mesmerizing flashing helmet. 

"Polydamas, it is I, Hector, son of Priam" he yells out from high atop one of Troy's powerful walls.  "The war has begun my friend, the long haired Achaeans approach our shores looking for a fight.  Get your war gear on and meet me at the gates!"

Polydamas yells back to him, "I look forward to fighting by your side noble Hector.  Just one minute to address my students and I will be on my way, spears at the ready, my heart yearning for a fight!"

Hector shouts out, "Do not take too long fierce commander, you do not want to miss your chance for glory."

With that Hector takes off towards the fight and Polydamas addresses you quickly.

"So, this is it my faithful students, war is finally here!  You are on your own now, I will be busy from now on with the gruesome business of war.  But, before I leave, I must remind you of one thing...and please, remember what I say.  A simple fact of life, one which the Gods know better than the rest of us, is that patience and persistence are the keys to success.  Do not enter this war until you have had your fair share of practice in its arts.  If you enter as a child then the men of war will surely strike you down, and Troy will lose what could have been a helpful soldier.  So, now I must be off, and I will leave you to your chosen fates.  Goodbye." 

With that, Polydamas takes off towards his home to fetch his war gear so that he can gain great glory as co-commander of the Trojan armies. 

You and some of your fellow recruits decide to watch the battle from afar so, like a pack of curious kittens, you climb the high walls of Troy and look out at the battle.  When you get to your lookout post you see a magnificent and horrifying sight as a thousand fast ships pack the harbor to your shores.

You see clouds of fire arrows raining down on the ships and you see men scurrying about with buckets, putting each fire out one at a time.  The first ship to hit the shoreline carries Achilles and his band of trusty Myrmidons.  They storm the beach through a hail of spears and arrows as they make their way up the sand dunes trying to destroy your archers.

They meet up with your armies and tear through them like a pack of lions destroying a flock of sheep.  You shudder to think what you would do were you to meet up with Achilles or any of his deadly Myrmidons.  Then your heart leaps as Hector and his contingent make their way to the deadly destruction.  Achilles no longer leads his lions through a pack of sheep.  Now it is lion against lion and noone has the upper hand.  

Blood and guts soak the golden sands of Troy as the Achaeans pull their ships up onto the beach one by one.  Although Hector was able to rally all of the best fighters in Troy, as well as most of your allies, he is still unprepared to take on the mighty Achaean onslaught.  He wades in through blood and gore against unstoppable Achilles himself.

Hector casts his strong spear at Achilles but the brazen point only bounces off of the bronze shield that Achilles holds so proudly.  When Achilles casts HIS spear it flies hard and fast and nearly strikes Hector on his gleaming helmet but his lightening fast reflexes save him from death once again.  The two men draw their perfectly hewn swords and clash like lightning against lightning.  

Sparks fly as steel scrapes bronze and the two madmen of war try desperately to kill each other and gut the heart of their enemies army.  As those two heroes of war battle each other, their fellow soldiers fight to keep them alive.  A quick and deadly Myrmidon, modeled after Achilles himself, goes in for the kill as he finds Hectors flank unprotected.  

Just as the Myrmidon is about to thrust his sword under Hectors armpit and bring sure disaster to Troy and its allies, Hectors unworthy but dependable brother Paris marks the lurking enemy and shoots him with an arrow right where the two collar bones meet under the chin.  It enters the Myrmidons soft throat and exits halfway through the back of his neck, bringing darkness swirling around his eyes.

Hector seeing this decides that it is too early in this war to risk his life against the likes of Achilles.  He pulls back and the swarms of Achaean fighters begin to crowd in, trying to gain the glory for themselves.  Your unfortunate Trojan army finds itself badly outmatched and decides to draw back into the protective walls of Troy.

As you stand there, heart sinking, you are pushed out of the way by the lines of archers preparing to keep the Achaean armies at bay from the top of that safe and impenetrable wall.  Thank the Gods for that wall!  Were it not for this wall then you would all surely die here this day, blotted out by Achilles, Agamemnon, and the thousands of fiery souls looking for glory and riches on your shores.

 


	3. Chapter 3

Why O Gods, why is strength and vitality wasted on the young?  Why can the young not be wise or the old be strong?  What sick twist of fate it is when a young man is ignorant, and an old man is weak.  If only you were wiser.  If only you knew better.

After two weeks of training and observing your armies get beaten down from up high, you grow restless and your will becomes impetuous.  You hunger for battle and glory, for death and destruction.  Most of all you hunger for victory, you hunger to fulfill your destiny and drive Achilles and the rest of those long haired barbarians out of your country.

But the sad thing is that you do not understand destiny.  You do not understand your responsibility for your own destiny and what must be done to fulfill it.  As you stand there near the gates, a second rate spear in each hand, you contemplate your next move.  Three weeks of practice and you think you are ready, ready for the men of battle, men like Menelaus, Great Ajax, and crafty Odysseus.

Suddenly you are overcome by the Gods that rule men from the inside out - the God of overweening pride and the God of unruly zeal.  You make a rash decision in your ignorant youth.  Because of your impatience and your lack of persistence you shall die today O reckless Golden Child.  You shall throw your future away and for what?  You shall blot out the chances of an entire city and for what?  If only you had heeded the advice of Gods and warriors far more experienced and wiser than you.

Armed with two sharpened sticks, a blunt sword, a weak and poorly laced bow, and two pitiful layers of ox hide armor, you march through the gates on your way to war.  The further you walk the further the greatness of your destiny gets left behind.  You see war in front of you.  You can hear it now, the war cries, the screams of the dying, the clash of metal against metal.  Your heart years for it, you are drawn to the din of battle.

As when a bee is drawn to the sweet nectar of a colorful flower, the bee sees its target, it smells its tasty prey, and it heads right for it at full speed.  Soon it is there, right where it wants to be, right where it has been so many times.  Surrounded by pollen, nectar, the very things that it lives for.  But suddenly it senses something is wrong.  This is no ordinary flower, not like anything it has ever encountered before.  SNAP!  The jaws of the venus flytrap close down on its unsuspecting prey.  Who ever thought a plant could be so vicious, so cruel.  Now the bee is being eaten alive, its dream has become a nightmare.

So shall your dream become a nightmare.  So shall the sweet attractive sights and sounds of battle turn into something deadly, something vicious and cruel.

As you make your way down the beachhead you are suddenly greeted by a familiar friend, although now he is not so friendly.  "Where are you going you ignorant little mortal?!!!", asks a loud and booming voice that shakes the earth around you.  It is Ares, God of war, and he is very angry right now.  Gleaming red he floats at your side, berating you for your arrogance and unforgivable foolishness.  

"Do you think Zeus wants you to die already?  Before you've had a chance to achieve even the most minor amount of greatness?  Turn around you ignorant fool!  Nothing but death lies for you out there."

Calm and focused, you are not intimidated by the angry God, even though you should be.  No, you are too intent on joining the ebb and flow of war, of being part of its undying place in history, to know when to be scared.  You nonchalantly turn to the God, a being far greater than you, and you state your purpose.

"You may be correct deathless God, but my curious nature compels me to keep going.  If truly I am loved by the Gods, then you will protect me out there in the midst of deadly battle.  After all, what good are bronze and steel against the likes of you?"

So you state your purpose, and the God of war hates you for it.  "You overestimate our reach boy" Ares shouts at you.  "If you wade into war then you will be on your own.  Not even the mighty father Zeus can save you from your chosen fate!"

If you had your wits about you then maybe you would have listened to a God, a being far wiser and greater than you.  But your soul is full of foolish arrogance and a lust for battle.  Youth, O what a deadly trap it has laid for you.

"Then I will need to be careful" you say.  "Maybe if I stay close to Hector I will be safe.  As long as Achilles does not find his way to our side of the battlefield then who can challenge Hector in the arts of war?  All who come across his path are quickly destroyed."

"FOOL!" Ares shouts at you with all the power that a God carries in their voice.  "You march to your doom."

With that, Ares flies away and leaves you to your own accord.  The deathless Gods turn a blind eye to you and you become fodder for the dogs of war.

Soon you are at the edge of the battle.  Like a giant wave that comes towards you as you play in the ocean, it is at the same time terrifying and exhilarating, intimidating and beautiful.  So this battle seems to you as you venture closer and closer.  You look around, trying to find glorious Hector, trying to get a glimpse of that shining helmet.  But you cannot find him, he is on the other side of the battle, much too far away to save your pitiful life.

Soon you find yourself swept up into the bloody ocean of battle.  You wish to turn back as fear grips you by the knees but it is far too late for that now, your only choice is to ride this wave out, to ride its bloody crest back to land.  With a second rate spear in one hand and a blunt sword in the other, you ready yourself for a fight.  Full of false confidence and unwarranted pride, you prepare to kill any man that dares to face you in battle.

As you get entangled in the clash of battle you realize that you are fighting Achilles and his mighty Myrmidons.  

"What chance do I have against the likes of these men?" you ask yourself, "What can I possibly do to save myself from these insane madmen of war?"

The answer is simple...nothing.  As you stand there, waiting for the attack, a sturdy ashen spear, tipped with a sharp bronze point and thrown by a strong and skilled Myrmidon warrior, comes sailing at your head from out of nowhere.  By the time you sense your impending doom it is already too late.  You watch as the spear strikes you right between the eyes and comes crashing out of the back of your head.  Your eyeballs roll out of their sockets and fall to the ground, along with the rest of your body. 

As your eyeballs roll around in the sand they see one more horrific scene.  A mighty Myrmidon boot squashes your right eyeball like a cockroach.  The other boot is dug deep into your chest as the precious spear is wrenched from your quivering head.  You lay there in the muck, eyes on either side of you, brains flowing into the sand, and the dark swirls over your eyes.

Alas, you were not able to fulfill your destiny.  You were sent down to Hades before you even got a chance to shine.  Hector and your city will be cruelly wiped off of the face of this earth, all sent down to Hades to mingle with your lowly soul.  You never killed a single man in combat and gained no glory during your pointless and pitiful life.  Soon you will be forgotten.  No man, living or dead, will ever remember your name now, not even your own deathless father, the mighty Zeus, king of Olympus. 

One can only hope that your soul gets a second chance at life and that the next time the life it gets won't be wasted...as it was in this one.

                                                                                                     THE END


End file.
